I'm the communications director for the College Democrats of SDSU. San Diego State is a really purple school, because while it is a university, there are lots of students who come from very rich families in Los Angeles and elsewhere who are Neo-Conservative, so I take my job really seriously.

Both parties were called to the athletics center to give speeches on why their candidate was best suited for the job of the presidency. They sounded like fools to me, and I consider myself to be center-left. Here is the transcript of my speech.

Oh, when I bring up the "Booze Ban" in my speech, it's because our city has imposed a booze ban on the beaches. Both parties are against it.

Enjoy!

Angel

Thank you so much for having us here today. My name is Angel, and I’m going to outline in clear detail where Barack Obama stands on the issues, how those affect us as young people, and what his candidacy will mean for the future of the United States.

Now, after being brought up in such a wide array of different settings, Barack Obama has a very unique perspective on the rest of the world â€" multifaceted. This has been not only reflected in the way he sees the world but also in the way that he works on the senate floor. Whether it came through his authoring a bill that limited nuclear weapons proliferation by any more nation-states, or helping to push the most extensive congressional ethics reform since Watergate, his ability to work across the aisle to put important legislation through has been made clear.

One of the most important things to know about the presidential candidates is how they see America, and how they see America’s role in the rest of the world. This is a dynamic and changing world that has been reshaped by the forces of globalization, global climate change, and the threats presented to us as a result of the rise of international terrorism. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that we have a leader that can not only inspire young people like us to take a part in the processes of our government and our future, but has a clearly outlined plan that will not only benefit America and the rest of the world five years from now, but fifty years from now, because as young Americans, we will all still be around then.

We’ve all heard the same axiom every election. "This is the most pivotal election you will ever vote in." You hear it from celebrities urging the youth to vote, you hear it from candidates in town halls, and you hear it from pundits on television in the midst of all the other garbage that they spew. What is different about this election is that they’re actually right. The reason that they’re right is because we have an economy that is in a horrible downward spiral. We are locked into two wars. Global climate change is on the path to seriously affecting our way of life. In this midst of all of this, the civil liberties that we had taken for granted all these years seem to be slipping away. We have a very distinct choice in the year of 2008. We can go back to our old methods, our old way of doings, and hope that the twentieth century model will turn out better for us. Or, we can finally say to ourselves that we need to turn the page and try something completely different. We can base our vote on whom we’d rather have a beer with or who is folksy, or we can base our vote on who will have the most positive impact on our people and our future for decades to come.

In other words, we have not been presented with such an opportunity for this kind of a change in American politics for forty eight years. Not since John F. Kennedy have so many people been moved to action by a political campaign. Many people interpret this call to change as mere eloquent words. To those I would say that they should never underestimate the power of words out of someone who finally had the courage to effectively stand up for what they believe in. An eloquent call to change by an intelligent and forceful leader is one of the main proponents of what starts a positive sweeping change in our society. Therefore, a call for change, no matter who makes the call for change, is needed in our desperate and trying times.

Now many people ask, and understandably so, what does this change actually mean? Why should I pay attention to this particular call for change, and not somebody else’s? I will tell you right now.

Currently our gallant troops are under a severe amount of strain. They are serving our country’s 21st century needs while taking orders from a 20th century bureaucracy. It has been constrained under rigid and disconnected legal authorities that wind up leaving our troops horrendously under-resourced. This leads to conditions for the troops like not being able to receive battle armor in the Iraq war, night vision goggles for covert operations, and the debacle that was Walter Reed. It has come to light that a new approach is needed for our soldiers, not just flaccid talk about patriotism.

Barack Obama’s plan is a comprehensive approach to the current state of affairs that not only ensures that our troops are properly resourced and taken care of, but also removes lots of constraints that are put on our government agencies and our military. In other words, we will have a better resourced, more flexible, and a more responsive military. These traits are imperative for a military to have in a time of crisis, and in the current state affairs in regards to America’s role in international security they are indispensible.

The way we can move to get this done is to first of all, increase the size of our military, and fund research to increase the effectiveness of our special forces which are integral to fighting international terrorist organizations. It also involves increasing benefits for all of the members of the military, and making sure that in a nation of three hundred million strong, we are able to recruit a military that can suit our needs.

To compliment the missions of our military, a complete revamping of the status quo is required. Right now we have a military that is well equipped to handle a war against a nation state, but more needs to be done to make sure that another tragedy like 9/11 doesn’t happen again. In other words, to meet our obligations abroad our plan is to develop a military that is able to counter what adversaries we may be facing in the future, be they from another nation state, a terrorist organization, or in cyberspace.

It also involves the incorporation of civilian and military agencies to effectively react to a crisis, so if another unfortunate case of Katrina happens, we will not have a president that will sit on his hands for a week before doing anything. In addition, Barack Obama seeks to create a Civilian Assistance Corps that will assemble volunteers of special skill sets like engineers, doctors, lawyers, and agricultural specialists to react in time of a crisis.

This ties in directly with our foreign policy which is a major issue in this election. An Obama administration would never flounder or hesitate to use our military in defense of our nation, and would never go to war with a nation state that we as a nation did not need to go and fight.

A smart foreign policy is one of the main centerpieces of Barack Obama’s platform. It involves making the war on terror fought where the front is â€" in Afghanistan and along the Pakistani border. It involves a responsible drawdown of our troops in Iraq. Following the models of what the experts have been saying, it is feasible to drawdown our troops at the rate of one to two brigades per month, and then redeploy them into Afghanistan to finally break the back of Al-Qaeda and bring justice to those who are deserving of it.

Barack Obama’s policy involves going face to face with all foreign leaders to make it clear where the United States stands in regards to rogue states’ actions. The era of Bush-McCain saber-rattling would come to a distinctive close. In other words, we need to stop having all of the hard lining that has alienated not only prospective allies in the twenty first century, but some of our most staunch supporters in Western Europe. In addition, these policies have only emboldened our enemies, caused more terror groups to spring up in foreign regions, and given way for Iran to build thousands of centrifuges to build nuclear weapons. These policies have not only put Israel in jeopardy, but they will have put the rest of the world in danger because of the unpredictable nature of the Iranian government.

It also involves the strengthening of our relationships with our allies, and building more alliances in various part of the world where our reputation has been damaged. This includes places like Latin America, Africa, and Asia where international support are an important component in maintaining our economic, environment, and military security abroad. This involves an American-led initiative to reduce global poverty in the nations that are struggling the most right now to make sure to avoid turmoil in what would otherwise be ignored parts of the world. The developing nations of the world are rising quickly as a result of factors such as the spread of technology and globalization, and therefore it is important to maintain our moral high ground and our democratic influence there, lest they be controlled and influenced by states like China, Russia, or Venezuela.

To be able to enact such an ambitious foreign policy, one of the main things that is needed by the United States is energy independence. We have heard endless talk from the candidates on this topic. The reason that it has become such an important issue is because it is affecting our ability to do business abroad and our ability to have any kind of leverage against our petroleum-rich adversaries. We are not able to pursue the security interests of our nation because of the financial interests of Exxon-Mobil, who so happen to be in the Republican ticket’s pocket. For them, it has gotten so bad that the Vice Presidential candidate won’t even admit that Global Climate Change is affected by human activity. What we need is a policy that utilizes every form of alternative energy possible to ensure that we can reduce our dependency on oil from the Saudis, provide cheap and efficient energy for the American people, and give ourselves the opportunity to create five million green-collar jobs to bolster the economy and get a huge portion of our middle class back on the track to prosperity.

This will probably be one of the most arduous tasks that will beset the American people in the coming years. The stranglehold that oil interests have had on the past administration is catastrophic. We’ve seen how it can affect our foreign policy, damage the environment, and even affect our ability to pay the bills with the costs of fuel affecting our ability to get to work and pay for rising grocery costs. The times have never called for a greater push for a serious transition for a forward-looking 21st century energy plan. In other words, we need a better policy than "Drill, baby, drill!" A slogan is not going to give us reprieve of the crisis that we face.

Barack Obama’s plan is to forcefully fund research for alternative fuels and allow for the emergence of alternative fuel energy companies. It would strongly push for resources like clean coal, wind, and solar power plants. It would also include funding for research on how to recycle nuclear material and safe ways to store the waste to make sure that nuclear power is still a viable option for the future. By doing these things we can secure the future of cheap and efficient energy for the American people without having to shape our foreign policy to meet the desires of those who are carrying all of the fossil fuels.

Funding the research for this is only half of the battle, however. We need to make sure that our car companies in Detroit are able to keep up with the demands for more fuel efficient vehicles, and eventually, vehicles that no longer depend on fossil fuels. That is why Barack Obama’s plan will also push for hydrogen fuel cell research, natural gas research, and give more tax incentives for people who drive hybrid vehicles.

As I have stated before, securing our military, financial, and energy interests abroad also ties into securing our financial interests at home, making sure that the American worker and the American family are able to contribute to our society and provide for their families. Our economic not only tie directly into what is going on in places on the other side of the world, but also on the kitchen tables of everyday families that try to figure out every night how to pay the bills and pay for their children’s schooling. Rebuilding the American economy will be no simple task. It will require a great deal of hard work to reverse the damage of the past eight years. It goes far beyond a corporate tax cut, or making President Bush’s upper class tax cuts permanent. A quick fix that simply renews the old and broken policies of the 20th century just won’t do. As we can see from the past eight years of a Republican president, with the first six being supported by a purely Neo-Conservative congress, the conclusion can be easily drawn that a conservative fiscal policy makes for uncontrolled growth, leading to the Herbert Hoover politics of boom and bust. It is no coincidence that many experts have finally come to the conclusion that this style of economics is no longer the style that the United States, or the rest of the world for that matter, should follow.

The rallying cry for fiscal conservatism is "deregulation." A call made loud and clear by John McCain and Sarah Palin throughout this campaign. What deregulation really means is lawlessness. That means that instead of stealing a small amount of money with a knife or a gun, it means that corporate giants can sink their financial firms, render their clients completely broke and sometimes without a home, and still manage to walk off with a layoff compensation of hundreds of millions of dollars. Hundreds of millions of dollars for the corporate figureheads that managed to not only severely damage or outright destroy their firms, but also leave many ordinary Americans out to suffer the consequences of their actions. These are your true elitists. In many cases, when someone does such a horrible job managing their company, they are fired and are not given such luxurious compensation for their terrible work. This is not a truly free market. A market where it is nearly impossible to start a business because the financial giants are floundering due to corruption and inefficiency is not free. A market where the working man cannot even have confidence in his ability to pay his own mortgage despite all the efforts he puts in to supporting his family is not a free market. A market that controls its politicians by way of gifts and bribes through corrupt lobbyists is not a free market.

A free market takes a comprehensive approach to ensure that the consumer is protected, and that a fair playing field is the medium in which businesses compete. Let’s not make a mistake about it â€" Democrats are staunch advocates of a strong and competitive market. It is one of the main parts of our platform. We also realize, however, that in any competitive arena, there needs to be a referee to make sure that everyone plays by the rules. This is the role that government can and should be playing. Not as a hostile socialist takeover of the private sector, but as a mediator to provide oversight and ensure that the American consumer is able to be treated fairly and that the marketplace isn’t a place where an inefficient and corrupt corporate bully finds its home.

First off, to rebut some of the rumors that have been touched off by the McCain-Palin campaign, which we often have to do, Barack Obama will not raise your taxes unless you make over $250,000 a year. Anyone who makes less will be paying the lowest possible taxes since the Reagan administration. In other words, the majority of the American people will be given a massive tax break. That means greater spending power in the hands of more people, which will ultimately lead to a healthy amount of growth for the American economy. Some may say that this will hurt small business â€" it doesn’t. A very small percentage of small businesses actually make more than $250,000 a year and will not be affected negatively by this tax cut. If anything, they too will be affected positively and be able to make payroll and expand their operations more easily.

The people who will be receiving higher taxes are the very wealthy, the top five percent of the American people, and to a greater extent, corporations that continue to ship American jobs overseas. Many of the wealthy balk at this proposal, saying that it is a redistribution of wealth, or that is Robin Hood politics. What these people don’t seem to understand is that you need taxes to pay for a government infrastructure. The same people who want to wage war and build a massive wall to keep immigrants away are the same ones who are entirely unwilling to pony up for it. They’ll mock those who say paying taxes is patriotic. These same people don’t recognize that to continue to make this country great, sacrifice is needed on behalf of everyone, not just our military families, and the ever-dwindling middle class. By taxing these people, and more importantly, the shifty corporations who have received a cushy break for too long, we can pay off our national debt and make sure that our needs are met.

As in any election, there is a wide array of issues that need to be met. The difference between this election and elections in the past is that we are quickly approaching the point of no return. As a young American, I don’t want to be looking back in four years wondering how our generation missed an opportunity to make history and be the heroes in the midst of all of this madness. I don’t want to look back and wonder what went wrong with what was once a great nation. I don’t want to look back and come to the horrifying realization that our best days are behind us.

The good news is that our best days are ahead of us. But they are only ahead of us if we can find it within ourselves reach out to the better angels of our nature. We have to fight past all of the pathetic bickering over nonsense issues over culture wars, flag pins, and whose political party is against the booze ban. For the record, we are all against the booze ban. But that doesn’t matter in this election. There are much bigger fish to fry. We can’t base our vote on who we’d rather have a beer with. We’ve had a president like that â€" George W. Bush. Look at where it has gotten us. We can’t afford to let ourselves be fooled by people who have the nerve to call themselves mavericks when they are in lockstep with the policies of our last failure of a president. We can’t be fooled by someone who runs a campaign that makes an attempt at inciting people’s fears because they have no real ideas to help save our economy and save our country. The very fact that they decided to push a maverick image is open admission that the American people prefer our policies. Those who know better however, will see through this farce for what it is â€" another four years of President Bush masked to try and fool us into giving them our votes. We need to base our votes, as young people, on who has the steady hand, the judgment, and the policy to ensure our futures for the next fifty years.

It would be folly to think that we will all eventually agree on everything one day. We may not all have the same religion or even have one at all, but at the very least we can agree that religion is a sacred individual right, not a political tool that is "fair game" to be used to divide us. Maybe we cannot agree on whether or not the Iraq war was the right thing to do at the time, but we can still come together and acknowledge that war should be a last resort and our troops should only be used when all other options have been exhausted. We may come from different walks of life because of who we are and where we are from, but at the very least we can all agree that we are all just as American as the next person and it is our humble duty to do right by each other, no matter how differently we may see each other on the surface. So that is why I humbly call upon you here today, to really think about how and why you’re voting. This is a distinct vote where our future is in the balance, and nothing less. I’m full of optimism and hope for the future because of the promising group of young men and women that I’m looking out on today. We are the light of the future, I know that deep down you’ll make the right choice.